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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26672365">Passerby</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyctae/pseuds/Nyctae'>Nyctae</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Bonding, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Season/Series 02, Rated T for swearing, Season/Series 01 Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:55:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,073</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26672365</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyctae/pseuds/Nyctae</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"Hey, where’s Dolores? I haven’t seen her in a while."</i><br/><i>"I took her back."</i><br/> <br/>In which Luther makes it his mission to make up for what he did to make Five drop the gun.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Allison Hargreeves &amp; Luther Hargreeves, Dolores/Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Number Five | The Boy &amp; Luther Hargreeves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>139</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Passerby</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p><b>Canon Divergence:</b> In this, the apocalypse is prevented, and the events at the end of "The White Violin" do not occur.</p><p>I don't hate Luther, but sometimes he does shit that makes me mad, so I wrote this to make me less upset about that scene with Dolores.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>        Luther was heading to his room when he heard talking behind the always closed door of Five’s room. It didn’t take long for curiosity to get the best of him, and he glanced around to make sure no one was watching before pressing his ear to the door.</p><p>        “—not my fault! I was an impressionable young adult, and Ben said it was a great idea! Hey, where’s Dolores? I haven’t seen her in a while.”</p><p>        Dolores. Why did that name sound familiar? Luther internally cringed, remembering the beaten up mannequin with the torn polka dot blouse. Five had been carrying it around all the time when he wasn’t off doing God knows what to prevent the apocalypse.</p><p>        “I took her back.”</p><p>        That was not the response Luther was expected. Had Five finally gotten over whatever obsession he had with it? Based on Klaus’ silence, Luther guessed he was just as shocked by that response.</p><p>        “What? Why? Was a little lover’s quarrel really worth taking her back, or was it something someone said? Was it Luther? Because I feel like he isn’t the most well-versed on the whole romance thing.”</p><p>        Luther fought the urge to roll his eyes at Klaus’ comment because what did Klaus even know about romance? He strained to hear Five’s response: “It wasn’t that. It was just safer to take her back with the whole preventing the apocalypse thing, and she deserves to be with her friends anyway.”</p><p>        “I— uh, that makes sense, I guess. So are you two, you know, over?”</p><p>        “I don’t think you can just be over someone after everything we’ve been through, but I’m not just going to rip her away from her friends again if that’s what you mean.”</p><p>        “Are you going to visit her again sometime?”</p><p>        “Perhaps.”</p><p>        “If you do, I wanna meet the lovely lady who stole my brother’s heart!”</p><p>        “You’ve already met her.”</p><p>        “Yes, but now I’m sober, and we’re not worrying about the apocalypse ending the world!”</p><p>        Before he could hear Five’s response, Luther heard footsteps bounding up the stairs. He quickly stepped away from the door, continuing his journey back to his room.</p><p>        Now on his bed, he couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation. Five sounded sad talking about Dolores with Klaus. Did he really care for the mannequin that much?</p><p>        No, it was for the best. Without it being around, Five could finally move on from the whole doomsday thing. Maybe he’d stop being so much of an ass too.</p><hr/><p>        Luther quickly found his hypothesis was wrong. If anything, Five was worse. Most of the time, Five was in his room alone doing God knows what, and whenever he did leave his room, he seemed to be either on high alert, snippy, drunk, or some combination. It was <em> his </em> decision to get rid of Dolores; they didn’t deserve to be snapped at for what he did.</p><p>        In the morning, he went to the kitchen for breakfast; Five and Diego were already at the table with their food. He kept his back turned and pretended not to notice as Five threw bitter gibes at Diego when the latter attempted to start a conversation. After finishing preparing his bowl of cereal, he went to Allison.</p><p>        “It’s that doll, Allison, I swear. I thought it being gone would make him better. Talking to it like it’s a real person wasn’t healthy, but now he’s getting pissed at us for it. He kept insulting Diego at breakfast for just asking if he was okay!”</p><p>        Allison frowned and shook her head at him, opening her mouth to speak before faltering. Instead, she grabbed the pen and pad next to her and scribbled furiously.</p><p>        “<em>She. Not it.</em>”</p><p>        Luther sighed and rolled his eyes, but she was writing again before he could argue.</p><p>        “<em>How long were you on the moon?</em>”</p><p>        He frowned at her question. “You don’t remember? It was four years.” He thought out of everyone at least Allison would remember how long he was alone on the moon. Alone for nothing as it turned out.</p><p>        But she was writing again; of course, there was some deeper meaning. “<em> Multiply that by 10. Thats about how long Five was alone with only Dolores.</em>”</p><p>        Luther paused. He had never thought about it like that before. Forty years sounded like a lot, but imaging ten times his stay on the moon made it seem a hell of a lot longer.</p><p>        “<em>Shes probably the only comfort he’s had in like 45 years.</em>”</p><p>        And now Luther felt a bit bad. He wanted to argue that even if <strike>it</strike> she were, talking to a mannequin wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t. Forty-five years with no one but half of a plastic woman.</p><p>        “<em>I cant say I necessarily understand but Id be pretty pissed all the time if I was 13 again, lost my lover, and tried to stop the end of the world multiple times.</em>” She flipped to a new page. “<em>He needs some time.</em>”</p><p>        “I… You’re right. I’ll get off his back for a while. Thank you.”</p><hr/><p>        He was shopping with Allison a few weeks after their conversation when he overheard an eager employee greeting a customer.</p><p>        “Welcome! We’ve completely remodelled! If you need any help finding anything, just let me know!”</p><p>        It shouldn’t be a surprise that they remodelled. From what he heard, the department store received handsome compensation after the random shootout. He glanced at the neon banner on the back wall of the store: "<em>BRAND NEW STORE! BRAND NEW ITEMS! BRAND NEW DEALS!</em>"</p><p>        Brand new store seemed pretty accurate. The interior looked completely different: more chic and modern. There was new paint, new decor, new mannequins.</p><p>        He froze in his spot as Allison obliviously continued looking around. Shit, new mannequins. He entertained the idea that maybe, for whatever reason, the store decided to keep Dolores, but the growing uneasiness in his stomach said otherwise. He couldn’t help but look for her familiar face and polka dot blouse whenever they passed a display.</p><p>        Wherever she was, she was not in the store anymore.</p><p>        Trying to ignore his worry, he continued to follow Allison through the store. Afterwards, she pointed to the sign of a nearby diner, tilting her head when she looked at him.</p><p>        “Uh, I think I’m going to pass. I’m not feeling great. I think the milk’s gone bad.” It wasn’t a lie technically. While it wasn’t the milk, his worry was becoming overwhelming.</p><p>        Her gaze shifted into concern, and she pulled a piece of paper out of her purse.</p><p>        “<em>Okay. I’m going to go to a few more stores then. Feel better :( </em>"</p><p>        He nodded, waiting until she walked out of sight before heading to the back of the building. He was never one for dumpster diving, but some voice in his brain screamed that if there was a chance she was there, he had to look for her.</p><p>        Luckily, the bright plastic of the mannequins stuck out amongst the dark trash bags. Even without her polka dot blouse, her face was distinctive enough for him to recognise her. She was dirty but undamaged and more importantly still there.</p><p>        “I, uh, I’ll be back for you. Don’t worry,” he mumbled; he felt silly talking to an inanimate object.</p><p>        After making his promise to Dolores, he headed back into the department store: he doubted Five would be happy about receiving a dirty, naked Dolores. He could barely shop for Allison, who told her what she liked. How was he supposed to shop for a mannequin who couldn’t speak?</p><p>        “<em>You know, Dolores always said she hated when I drink… She said it made me surly…. If I can unfuck up this timeline, I’ll get her something nice. Something with sequins…</em>” He was sure Five said more about her than that, but most of what he said that night at the library was incoherent. Besides, there had been more pressing matters to focus on, namely Hazel and Cha-Cha.</p><p>        But that didn’t matter now. Luther looked at the women’s blouses and chose a golden one covered in sequins. That should do. Five could always replace it later if it wasn’t good enough.</p><p>        He rushed back to the dumpsters and picked up Dolores. He realised that he probably looked insane, carrying a mannequin down the sidewalk, but he was strangely unbothered by it. He was more focused on making it home, cleaning her up, and returning her to Five.</p><hr/><p>        Unfortunately, finding Five was a task more difficult than he had anticipated. The one time Luther wanted Five to be in his room, he wasn’t. He didn’t want to just leave her in there. What if he didn’t want her, or what if it somehow fueled some delusions he was sure Five had? Regardless, it was better to just find his brother himself and return her.   </p><p>        Five could wait until tomorrow. He probably wouldn’t even notice she was gone from the department store. Finally convinced things would be alright, he went to bed. No use messing up his sleep schedule over it.</p><p>        But, of course, he woke up in the middle of the night, stomach grumbling unhappily. Just another thing to hate about his body; it was always hungry.</p><p>        He sleepily dragged himself to the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets. Pulling out some bread and peanut butter, he prepared a sandwich. He nearly dropped it when he turned around to see Five at the kitchen table, tightly gripping a mug. How did he miss that?</p><p>        “Five? Are you drinking coffee at”—he glanced at the clock—”three in the morning?”</p><p>        Five looked up from where he was staring at the table. “Yes.”</p><p>        “You should be sleeping.”</p><p>        “Says you. Now if you’d kindly fuck off, I’d like to be alone.”</p><p>        Luther placed his plate on the table and sat down across from his brother. “What happened now?”</p><p>        Five narrowed his eyes at him. “What do you mean <em> now? </em>”</p><p>        “Well, uh, you’ve been having a lot of things going on, and they tend to make you more…” he paused, not trying to further offend his brother.</p><p>        “Of an asshole?”</p><p>        He sighed and nodded.</p><p>        “It’s some shit you wouldn’t be able to understand.”</p><p>        “About Dolores?” he asked, taking a bite out of his sandwich.</p><p>        This time Five faltered. “How—?”</p><p>        “I overheard you talking with Klaus that she’s gone.”</p><p>        He sighed. “Of course, I can’t trust a single one of you not to invade my privacy.”</p><p>        “I was just passing by,” Luther defended.</p><p>        “Sure, but yes, she’s gone. I’m sure you’re happy about it.”</p><p>        “I wanted to apologise.”</p><p>        “What?”</p><p>        “I’m… I’m sorry about using her to get you to drop the gun and for not taking how much she meant to you seriously. I don’t get it, but I talked to Allison about it—”</p><p>        “Are any of you capable of not discussing everything about me with the world?” Why couldn’t Five just focus on the actually important part of what he was saying?</p><p>        “Hey, I’m trying to be nice here!”</p><p>        “I accept your apology, but it’s too late.” His voice went quiet. “The store got rid of her.”</p><p>        Five didn’t really sound like he believed his apology, and Luther couldn’t blame him. He had a chance now though to prove he cared about Five. “I’ll be right back.” He finished the last few bites of his sandwich and rushed upstairs. He grabbed Dolores—careful to keep his hands on her sides—and headed back down.</p><p>        Five looked up at Luther when he heard his footsteps and froze. Luther held her out to him. “Allison and I went shopping, and she wasn’t there, so I checked the dumpsters. I really am sorry. You did a lot to save us, and I shouldn’t have judged your… relationship.”</p><p>        Five jumped to where he stood at the entrance of the kitchen, wasting no time in taking her. He stared at her before shutting his eyes and holding her close.</p><p>        After a few moments, Luther patted his shoulder. “I’m going to go to bed. I suggest you do the same. Kids need their sleep,” he teased.</p><p>        To his surprise, Five chuckled. “I’m fifty-eight and can and will kick your ass.”</p><p>        “Fine, old men need their sleep.” Luther turned to leave.</p><p>        “Hey, Luther?” He stopped and turned back. “Thank you. This means a lot.”</p><p>        “Does this mean you’ll stop being an ass all the time?”</p><p>        “If you stop being stupid all the time, I’ll consider it.”</p><p>        Luther smiled. “Good night, Five.”</p><p>        “Night, Luther.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading this! I feel the characters were a bit out of character, so feel free to let me know how to fix that or point out any other errors I made.</p><p>If you enjoyed this, check me out on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/vi.nyctae/?hl=en">@vi.nyctae</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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